Evangelistic Kung Fu

I shared Penn Jillette’s video about the guy that gave him a Bible here and we talked about it in a podcast here, in case you missed it.

Apparently since then he’s gotten a lot of people coming up to him since then to share the Gospel, to which I say WOOT!, and has released a video talking about one such instance.

Couple of things here. I find it a little amusing that the guy who came up to Penn says that he was encouraged to proselytize more by the original video and that the church group he’s with uses it in a training scenario. Well that’s not so much amusing as Penn saying that that wasn’t his intent. While I know that it wasn’t, since Penn doesn’t want to encourage folks coming up to him (or anyone I guess) and giving them a Bible or talking about God, it’s still interesting that he didn’t seem to see that coming.

It’s also interesting that he asks the guy about the morality/ethics of the church showing the video, not that he really cares about that, he just wants to make a point. I guess the point being, though he doesn’t go into it, that the church which proclaims to be a bastion of morality is likely being immoral in its action of showing the video. That sort of question is one pretty typical of evangelism. “Do you know that when you do x, that’s immoral? You need help!”

It’s unfortunate that this group felt the need to sort of gang up on Penn. Nothing good really comes of that approach, but Penn not being intimidated (once he scoped them out for weapons?!?!) handles it with the aplomb of a seasoned showman. Even directing him to one of the Gospels of Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. This after he tells the guy that, in spite of not knowing anything about the young man, that he doesn’t need the mythical, imaginary Jesus and that he needs to go out and find some “real love”. I mean do you really need to try and make someone that young and vulnerable feel bad about who they are and what they believe?

He doesn’t offer to buy anyone the book, saying he doesn’t want to be the Gideon of Atheism, though he does say that perhaps he should have and he hopes that at least some of them will read the book. In the future as one youtuber suggested, he should perhaps memorize the address of the local library. I mean if you want to get people to embrace your kooky beliefs sometimes you need to give your book away.

These guys want so badly for us to become like them, to be “free thinkers” and find real love with their fellow man and to reject these fairy tales. I know in the case of evangelistic atheists like Hitchens it’s because they believe that our beliefs cause real, demonstrable harm. They make some fair points too in that regard. I suspect in some cases it’s also because they find some sort of validation in both the “attaboys” they get from some of their fellows or perhaps just themselves when they help deconvert someone. They have led that person to what they believe is a more fulfilling life, free from all that baggage that came with their old lives. All that immorality and “sin” against their fellow man.

What really gets me though is that these guys can’t prove there belief system is true. Don’t want to believe in the existence of a god? Fine. You’re free not to. Just as we’re both free to not believe in Flying Spaghetti Monsters or Invisible Pink Unicorns. But don’t tell me how to live my life or where I need to go to find love or that I’m not getting it done right in this life. Remember that there’s not that much difference between you and me. You’re a theist who just believes in one less god than I do.

Any of this sound familiar?

  • Well, this at least points out that using Jesus' love as the primary motivation for becoming a Christian really isn't a good primary reason.

    Sometimes I wonder though if there would be more atheists if they distributed Nietzsche instead of Hitchens.
  • On either side of the coin you always have extremists. You also have the actions of the few that influence the mobs view and create the false stereotypes. When I was growing up in high school there was a group of "born again" Christians that sprouted up. These guys would start fights with you if they walked up and you didn't give the correct "yes" answer when they asked if you loved Jesus. They would make you understand through violence what they had embraced for themselves. This just seemed very backwards to me and while I can consciously say those people are extremists - on a subconscious level it adds to some pile in my brain about the bad parts of being involved in any Religious cult.

    There is so much of "my way or the highway" floating around these days. We "the mob" completely lose all understanding and reason when someone speaks up for what they think is right and it goes against our "tribe's" view. In this case you saw this video and felt compelled to write a blog post about it. While it does spark conversation and this is your personal platform to voice your opinion I think it is counterproductive to your cause. Which I understand from your words as wanting to be very understanding and neutral, they way it should be. In most of this post you remain neutral by throwing in little anecdotes where you acknowledge they have some validity to their arguments. But toward the end you say

    "Don't tell me how to live my life.." but you fail to tip the hat to the astronomically larger percentage of people involved in the many God believing cults that do everything they can to convert others. I have had more knocks on my door, and more arguments with people trying to explain to me why I need God in my life than I have people telling me I don't need it.

    Personally most atheists just seem to have a superiority complex. I'm a VERY spiritual guy, now do I subscribe to the same belief system you do? Well no, probably not really at all. The problem is true atheists just never leave room for any gray area, and I couldn't go through my own life living that way. It isn't about love at all for me. Love is just an emotion, we are human, we have a lot of them. For me it isn't even about submitting or coexisting with any being more powerful than myself. It is about something else. Something personal where all spirituality rests, within ones self.

    Blogs are the new newspapers. Now you have exposed this guy and helped him spread his word. Google will cache it. It will be another search result and he is going to get more "attaboys" for making you act. I'm commenting on it adding more data and discussion and exposure. We fuel the monster. I'm not sure you wanted to do that? I'm not sure I want to do it either. But above all our freedom of speech reigns supreme, and we live in a part of the world where we aren't getting shot for our opinions (yet?). So I'm okay with it.
  • @ dannymachal Heh. I may have outclevered myself. My intent for the last four paragraphs of the post was to engage in a little mirror image of what would be a typical atheist response to a Christian envangelizing. My attempt at satire. Perhaps it fell flat.

    I really don't mind Penn evangelizing atheism, though I am curious as to why he feels the need. Maybe it's just his reaction to being evangelized to overmuch? They think they have the right outlook on the universe, man as the pinnacle and free of the chains of religion. Much as he said in the original video, if you had this "freedom" and saw other people bound up in a bronze age cult wouldn't you be wrong not to say something?

    So don't take my post too seriously. I just thought it would be interesting to point out the flaws in his approach since he would point out the same flaws in someone approaching him in this way.
  • Oh I don't know if you fell flat or I was just looking for something to talk about besides the weather. :D

    We can agree in the end he has created that which he hates within himself.

    But really "crackle" doesn't pay him to make videos about how many hugs he got, or how much he loves his fellow man. He makes dollars off of being brashly opinionated and serving it up to be easily digested by the masses. It is a carrot on a stick method of brainwashing mind control!
  • Indeed. Penn does what he does because he knows it will get eyes on screens and butts in seats.
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